Measures to Improve Newborn Screening System in Korea = Measures to Improve Newborn Screening System in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Mandatory newborn screening is primarily applied to the diseases that are treatable if caught early enough but can cause severe disability if not detected and treated at a right time. The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs adopted a newborn screening program to detect inborn errors of metabolism for low-income families in 1991 and expanded it to cover all newborns in 1997. Inborn errors of metabolism are diseases that should be detected within the period between 48 hours and one week after birth, which require lifelong treatment and management.
After 10 years since the inception of the newborn screening program, now is the time for evaluation for improvement. For this purpose, a questionnaire-based postal survey was conducted in 2000 on 241 health centers across the country in 2000. Additionally, the authors conducted a supplementary survey on the families of the patients, analyzed a vast range of existing data and research results, gathered expert opinions on the policy measures, reviewed the current status and problems of the newborn screening policy, and presented policy measures to improve the screening program.